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Velok
Up until the last handful of years, the being known as Velok generally kept a much lower profile than almost any other user of the Force of his caliber. Throughout the waning years of the Jedi Order, the Clone Wars, the rise of the Empire and the majority of the chaos after the death of Palpatine, he operated in complete secrecy, apart from hunting trips that usually left no surviving witnesses. He and his confidante, Darth Sarastro, have a unique goal: a Sith Purge. This is despite Velok's allegiance to an ancient order obsessed with collecting the techniques of other Dark Side groups. His purpose, essentially, is to create a massive compendium of knowledge about the Force, while destroying all Darksiders but a chosen few. His history, including how he came to the Blackguard and survived their destruction sixteen years ago, is unknown to anyone but Sarastro, Skavi al'Kon and Feak Motal. He has shared portions of his past with Ashin Varanin, Ahkris and a few others. History Student Born in the Outer Rim, he was found as a young child by a Blackguard Wilder who recognized his potential. He traveled up the ranks of the Blackguards on Mustafar. Within a handful of decades, he was an Elite Wilder noted for his devotion to the Blackguard ideals. He had an apprentice at one point, but that apprentice died long before the Clone Wars. In 52 BBY, he used Sith magic to impersonate a Jedi Knight and passed through a small academy without incident. It was around this time that he became aware of the Rhandites, and started a quiet feud that would last nearly a century. Later in that same year, he continued in his guise of "Jedi Anrakk" to answer a call for help from contacts on Nar Shaddaa. Two investigating Jedi - a Knight named Tyrolu and his apprentice - had disappeared. A Force Wraith was on a rampage, controlled remotely by a Ghostling Darksider named Aorali Ventirri. Ventirri was capable of using Force powers through the Wraith, and Velok barely defeated it, breaking it off from her control and studying it until it disintegrated. Ventirri found him herself, and he revealed his own Dark Side allegiance, but not the extent of his power; she took him as a student. Over time, she noted his facility with the lightsabre but believed that he had no talent for Sith magic. They spent most of their time on the green ecumenopolis Celesta, though she sent him on various missions, generally assassinations. In short, she believed him to be her Sith apprentice. Velok's intentions were more complex. He never revealed his true nature to her, and ignored large parts of her training. In essence, he learned what he wanted to learn, planning eventually to either leave or, if possible, dispose of her as he had disposed of other Darksiders. After two and a half years, Velok decided the time had come to kill her. They duelled briefly on a Celestan floating skyscraper. Velok had learned the ancient Sith technique of Force Drain from his experiences with Ventirri, among other things, and he succeeded. He returned to the Blackguards. In late 30 BBY, Velok visited Kohlma and nerve-gassed large numbers of Bando Gora at their citadel. Though several captains and many cultists survived, nobody had put such a dent in the cult since Jango Fett. The next year, a group of surviving Bando Gora set out to discover his identity. Protector Early in the Clone Wars, Velok discerned some of the danger posed to unique Force traditions across the galaxy. Acting mostly on instinct - he had no idea of the Purge to come, or the true nature of the Supreme Chancellor - he transplanted several ghosh of Korunnai to two obscure Outer Rim jungle worlds in 19 BBY. (One of these worlds was known as The Pen.) This done, he turned his attention to the Zeison Sha and Jal Shey. By 4 BBY he had kept damage from Inquisitors and other Intel officers to a minimum, often leading Imperial Darksiders on a merry chase. It was around this time that a man named San'sii came to lead the Blackguard; for his part, Velok had no desire to challenge him, instead spending more and more time hunting down pieces of information inches ahead of Inquisitorius agents. In 13 BBY, Velok raced an Inquisitor team to a Jedi hiding on Vorzyd V. Though the Inquisitors killed the Jedi, Velok made off with several datacards and diaries. Imperial forces, including five Darksiders, chased him across the cityscape and nearly killed him. In the end, Velok killed the Darksiders and dove off a skyscraper to escape to the undercity. In 2 BBY he first became aware of a Jedi Master hiding in the planet-wide slums of Metellos. By 1 BBY he had tracked down Master Orihah Beorht, and was nearby when Beorht was killed by an Inquisitor; he intervened subtly and remotely to ensure the survival of twelve-year-old Lyn-Char Beorht, and the Inquisitor's death at Lyn's hand. A year after Yavin, the Blackguard were destroyed and Velok - perennially absent - found himself one of the only survivors. In 6 ABY, Quinis Asanis called a meeting of several surviving Masters of the Dark Side, including Orin Rayne, Sira Ves, a Togorian named Khaarka and a Naddist named Dab Rand; the last participated via hologram. This formative meeting of the Detori Order was interrupted when Velok infiltrated the Naddist base of operations and killed Rand on live holofeed. He spoke briefly with the Detori founders and indicated that he would kill them all, Khaarka being next. One year later, he arranged a duel with Khaarka, killed him and ate him, then arranged for Asanis to eat a steak cut from the Togorian's body - something Asanis only discovered the next day, when a note arrived with Khaarka's head. Puppetmaster While the rogue Detori Lyn-Char Beorht was fulfilling million-credit NRI contracts to incur war between the Imperial Remnant and the Sith Empire, Velok kept a careful but distant eye on him; Beorht didn't know he existed. When Beorht and fellow Detori defector Moroiniy Traverts set out on another such mission, they were intercepted by SE agent Iara Beorht. Iara killed Traverts and wiped her husband's memory, partly by mistake. When she left, Velok moved Lyn to a cave on an obscure world where he was discovered by pirates. He arranged for the pirates to make the amnesiac Dark Jedi believe he was a member of their crew. After several months as a pirate, Lyn was tasked to kill Arianah Windryder. Velok observed the confrontation at a distance, but did not have to intervene: Lyn regained his memory, recognized his former tutor, and left peacefully. At this point, Windryder was not aware of Velok's existence. At one point during the next two years, Velok returned to the Unknown Regions during the height of the Uul'ba-Rai Jihad. Unknown to the planets' inhabitants, he prevented the Rai from destroying Kro Var and Kelsal. This done, he returned his attention to the Sith Empire, and was partially responsible for the instability that surrounded the death of Dark Lord of the Sith Norik Kun. When the Sith Empire collapsed, he protected Iara Beorht - SE governor of the captured Anari sector, which had been ruled by Quinis Asanis - from several rivals, without her knowledge. At that same time, Lyn-Char Beorht had reestablished the Detori and begun to purge Darksiders of all descriptions from the area surrounding the Anari Sector. From behind the scenes, Velok ensured their success on a few missions, including the suicide bombing that annihilated a Dark Jedi conclave on an ancient space station called Tremondak. This purge ended when rogue Republic admiral Cabbal Noir captured or killed all of Lyn's Detori, including Lyn himself and his Padawans Ember Rekali and Brembla Kol. When Noir's ISD Lastwatch proved too much of a threat, Iara Beorht - still warlord of the Anari Sector - ambushed and destroyed it. Velok was aboard one of her ships, and was able to preserve Kol from the effects of explosive decompression until Iara's spacetroopers rescued her. Velok continued to protect Iara without her knowledge. He used Bast Castle on Vjun as his base of operations. In 16 ABY, Velok returned to the Unknown Regions, intent on arranging the death of fellow Dark Master La-Reia Beorht, who at the time was being pursued by the Jade Worlds and an assassin from a Jedi splinter group. Jade Worlds agents including Ashin Varanin finally caught Beorht, who incapacitated Varanin. As she was in the process of dealing with the other agents, Velok remotely assisted Varanin without her knowledge. Varanin killed Beorht. Velok seized all of Beorht's assets, including those on Pzob, where he found Quinis Asanis' personal library. Among these possessions were lightsabres made by Force-users Velok had watched, some for years. One was Arianah Windryder. Velok tracked her down, returned her sabre, and promoted her to Master. At this point he finally confronted Iara Beorht and duelled her to help her get over the death of her husband, and to confirm her solidity in the Light Side of the Force. Around this time he attempted to kill Rolf Valkner on Telos. The effort of surviving Valkner's traps and security systems rendered him vulnerable, and the duel did not go as planned. Velok barely escaped with his life. Activity A year later, he introduced himself to Halla Terrablade via Force doppelganger and gave her a great deal of useful information. He also discovered a Jedi Knight of the Old Republic hibernating in an imperfect Morichro trance. He awoke Daric Rydell and pretended to be a Jedi himself. After Rydell spent time at the Jedi Temple, Velok joined him in his quest to visit and learn from various Force sects across the galaxy. When Rydell disappeared shortly after the voyage's inception, Velok and Shaden Novar, among others, continued on. They traveled first to Dorin, then Dathomir, then Yanibar. While docked with an Aing-Tii ship, Velok sacrificed his cover to stop crippling hallucinations from affecting the rest of the expedition. The massive Dark Side pulse completely unmasked him. He called for a meeting, where he revealed his true nature and allegiance. Although Aldar Melron vouched for him after a mind scan, Velok was voted out of the expedition. Frustrated but understanding, he took the hyperdrive-equipped salon pod and departed. Meanwhile, through intermediaries such as Ald Sorosel, Velok constructed the Winnowing. Slightly before the expedition began, Velok pulled off one of his greatest manipulations. Assembling a disparate group of Masters, living and dead, he made them believe that he could return Lyn-Char Beorht to life, and drew on their very esoteric knowledge in the process, learning a great deal. He succeeded with the help of a Croke illusionist named Feak Motal, who impersonated Lyn. (Velok would not learn for some time that Motal had been unmasked and imprisoned.) The energy released in the process was secretly siphoned in a Force crystal. Hunt for the Sith Covenant Somewhat after these events, Velok met with Ori'vod and Ald Sorosel to track down a suspected Dark Side training facility on Kothlis. A Neophyte traitor gave them the base's location in the Ragnook Mountains. Velok and Ori'vod raided the base, incapacitated the Neophytes, killed the teacher, and contacted the teacher's superior, Yeurl. Their plan was to draw Yeurl in and kill him. Before the plan took effect, however, they encountered Zaara Archin and Kaleen, who were on a similar search-and-destroy quest - a quest that would take them into the heart of the Sith Covenant as Dark Jedi fought Sith in a war of extermination. Recruiting a Neophyte named Barkus, they set a trap for the Covenant. A pair of Covenant Blackguards was dispatched by Ori'vod; their disappearance was a lure for Yeurl, who found himself confronted by Ori'vod and Zaara Archin. Without letting him know that he was being allowed to escape, they duelled him until he retreated. Then they set their trap for Darth Kabal, high on a snowcapped mountain. What they got was Darth Obscurus. After killing Kaleen and Ori'vod, Obscurus found himself confronted by an enraged Velok, who sacrificed his own right hand to kill the Sith Lord. Both Ori'vod and Obscurus had exploded at death. Velok took Obscurus' lightsabre, the many sabres at Ori'vod's belt, and her armour, but embedded her primary dual-phase lightsabre deep within a rock wall. He left Obscurus' Sith Amulet to Zaara. Taking full responsibility for the needless death of his best friend, Velok returned to Bast Castle. The Big Con ' of the Dark Council.]] Over their long careers, Velok and Feak had accumulated a store of assets. Although just playing the stock market provided for significant wealth - bolstered by Ori'vod's precognitive abilities - they also owned artifacts, rare creatures, and even ships. In rare moments of foresight, Feak had been stealing interesting ships for many thousands of years. The vast majority were no longer capable of flight, but some dated from the Stark Hyperspace War or the Clone Wars. This included two Lucrehulk-class Battleships that had been refitted away from droid technology. Dubbed the Ineluki and the Utuk'ku, they became the flagships of Blue and Green Fleets. A major boon came when Ald Sorosel, in his guise as Darth Sarastro, tracked down the remnants of Iara Clane Beorht's Sith Empire fleet in Wild Space near Bakura. Thousands of crewers came from the south end of the Sith Empire, and were anxious to return home. With the combined fleet, the Dark Council set out to take some of the Sith Empire's border worlds. Velok, in his guise as Anrakk, was not there to see his master plan executed; at least, not initially. Evolution Weeks earlier, a couple of months after the death of Ori'vod, he had been meditating on Vjun when he decided to see what he could sense about the balance of power on Dathomir. Surprised to discover the presence of Darius Malakai, he sent a Force Phantom of himself to the Mirage Obsidious. He and the ancient Dark Lord intrigued each other, and Velok gave Malakai what information he had on Dark Lords around the galaxy. In exchange, he requested that, if possible, Malakai teach him how to absorb the knowledge of Dark Side spirits. Malakai created a rift in spacetime and brought Velok through, then used the Force to implant the technique in Velok's mind. The entire experience - transit, mental invasion - was one of the most painful of Velok's long life, but after pondering the benefits, Velok concluded they were entirely worth the cost. Shortly afterward, he returned to Kothlis, anxious to learn more about the Sith Covenant and the Cult of Shadow. He began to absorb the spirit of Kilvaern, the head instructor at the Covenant training facility he'd destroyed. Part-way through the process, Kilvaern convinced Velok to let him live, and told the Whiphid everything he knew about the Covenant, including the location of Roon. Since Velok didn't need Kilvaern's power or experience, and this information was all he had sought, he stopped the absorption procedure and let Kilvaern's spirit fade into the Force. He himself suffered the effects of partial integration, which he described as suddenly losing a twin. Still, he supposed it was better than absorbing the underling's weakness. His contemplations were cut short as the Sith Empire found itself under attack from within even as Ald Sorosel began to conquer part of it. Alchemical monsters were ravaging the SE's worlds, and Sorosel was granted the Sith'ari Centrality in return for the help of the Dark Council. Unfortunately, the only member of None Whatsoever with sufficient alchemical experience was unavailable. Desperate to take the opportunity, Velok was persuaded by Feak Motal to attempt the absorption of a former Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Kren, who had died seven years before. Despite the aid of Motal and the young mentalist Kelen Adwar, Kren won the confrontation and possessed Velok's body. Shortly thereafter, Barkus decompressed the entire starship and Kren found himself using all his power to survive hard vacuum and get to safety. The Dark Lord succeeded and used Force Lightning on Barkus, Adwar and the exhausted Motal. Seeing one of his only living friends about to die, Velok slipped into psychopathy as he had when he killed Obscurus. He destroyed Kren's remaining resistance, claimed his body back, and began to rip the Dark Lord's mind into digestible pieces. Velok was now also Darth Kren, in many ways; he reported feeling a greater need for validation and power, but was able to keep it mostly under control. He traveled immediately to the battlefront and assisted in the analysis of the alchemical multiforms. That done, he personally boarded a flagship creature, a monster the size of a Star Destroyer, and swam through its bloodstream to cut its heart apart from within using a spear of Dark Side energy. Conscious that it might not always be desirable to keep what remained of Kren's spirit within him, he began to record many of the former Dark Lord's memories in his holocron. Journey on the Concordat A few weeks later, with most of the war finished, he played a con designed to test Rach Kol-Rekali. He had maintained contact with the young Jedi Knight since the Sojourn, and had earned his trust in the Aing-Tii hallucination incident. After Rach left the Temple of the Current to study on his own, Velok took him under his wing. Velok intended to keep Rach far away from the Dark Side, but he did want to teach Rach some things about life and leadership. He hired Rach to run ships for him. One mission to Prakith ended in failure; later, as captain of the Action IV freighter Concordat, he was forced to put down a collective mutiny in the strongest possible way, not knowing that Velok had arranged the mutiny to test him. He ended up on Corellia with a half-empty freighter, no crew, and a tight schedule. Velok assisted him from a distance at finding a new crew, one member of which was Velok in disguise as his own cousin B'rtokk. The freighter - crewed by Hirai Molariou, Garrett G. Granth IV, Asemir Lor’kora and Illiana Y'yoreske - was bound for Celesta, then Trevel'ka. When they encountered the Fire-born on Celesta, Velok confronted Ventirri's spirit, who controlled her cultists. Not wishing to absorb her spirit, he instead sundered her connection to the cultists; the separation drove them temporarily insane. Velok revealed his true identity to all aboard. His motivations were complex. Kren’s personality traits were proving to be an annoyance; Velok wished to reassert his own identity, exaggerating his penchant for ridiculous games. Shortly after the freighter left Celesta, Velok disappeared. He returned to Dathomir in the company of Ald Sorosel and Skavi al’Kon. Malakai subdued and destroyed what remained of Kren’s spirit, leaving Velok with much of Kren’s knowledge and a portion of his personality. Hidden Master of the Centrality Tactics and Personality Though over the decades Velok has personally killed Darksiders of every description, he prefers to strengthen and help others to do such things for him. In one notable instance, he revealed his existence to the founders of the Detori and made himself such a threat that the Detori were largely blind to the growing threat of the Sith Empire - which destroyed them. Velok foresaw Emperor Palpatine's destruction of various Force traditions; accordingly, he removed representatives of several traditions and placed them on planets in the Unknown Regions, Outer Rim and Wild Space. In other instances, he misdirected and manipulated Imperial agents to protect such groups as the Zeison Sha and the Jal Shey. He is honorable to the honorable; on the other hand, when dealing with someone for whom he feels contempt (such as Bando Gora or Sith cultists), he is unlikely to make it a 'fair fight.' He is polite, even eloquent, and holds a certain measure of respect for the Jedi Order, past and present. In fact, he would far rather help the Jedi than he would a fellow Darksider. He respects integrity and initiative. He can be very patient, but sometimes his temper runs thin. He never discloses all of his plans, not even to Sorosel. His right hand was removed by Darth Obscurus, and replaced by a lifelike prosthetic. In his guise as Anrakk, bodyguard to Sarastro, he uses a far cruder prosthetic. He is often reckless in pursuit of his personal goals; he can be ruthless, or merciful, or charitable as the mood strikes him. Disguises and Alter Egos Velok has used several false identities. Anrakk, Jedi Knight At various points during the reign of the Old Republic, Velok impersonated a Jedi Knight. Anrakk, Bodyguard With the establishment of the Sith'ari Centrality, Velok poses as one of Darth Sarastro's bodyguards. In this guise, he appears relatively young, moderately well-groomed, with fur and hair so dark as to be almost black. He wears black armour and carries a lightsabre pike. He rarely speaks. His Force presence is Knight-level. Anrakk, Businessman In business ventures - such as when meeting with disguised Garrett G. Granth IV and Hirai Molariou - Velok is immaculately groomed, often wearing expensive suits and using an advanced vocabulary. His coloring is unchanged. His Force presence is the same as that of a non-Force-sensitive individual. B'rtokk, Engineer Onboard the freighter Concordat and in certain other circumstances, Velok plays his own cousin, a 'typical' uncivilized Whiphid. Ungroomed and barely clothed, he speaks Bocce and only a little Basic. His coloring is tan. His Force presence is the same as that of a non-Force-sensitive individual. Torkan, member of the Dark Council Velok's normal appearance is preserved in this identity, but he frequently wears a hooded black robe. The Force Velok is a Blackguard, a member of an ancient Dark Side sect known for their passionate pursuit of knowledge, especially knowledge of other Force traditions. He is a living library of obscure Force powers, most of which he does not use in any dedicated way. It is likely that he knows more individual techniques than almost any living Darksider. In most combat situations, he uses only Force Drain and Force Bellow. He is fond of Drain Knowledge. Due to his age, experience and power, as well as his constant research, Velok is known to use the lost Sith technique of creating Force phantoms. His version of the technique comes from the journals of a follower of Darth Vectivus, the lost technique's originator. He also knows some related disciplines, and Force Drain. His ability with Drain is such that he can seamlessly mix this power with the electricity-draining aspects of Force Absorb: when faced with Force Lightning, he will almost always use yellow tendrils of Force Drain that consume the stream of lightning all the way back to the attacker, then latch on and drain the life from said attacker. He can leach electricity or heat and transform it into usable Force power. As heir of Vulta Daanat, Velok is an expert in the philosophy of using the Force to understand and learn about the universe. He has a substantial collection of Force artifacts, many of which he secured inches ahead of the Emperor's agents. Others come from one-third of the library of Quinis Asanis, which Velok procured after the death of La-Reia Beorht. Velok has the personal records of Daanat as well as his holocron, and having killed Aorali Ventirri he has her few artifacts and library as well, which included Sith spells on metal scrolls and one holocron. He was not interested in the scrolls, but took them anyways; later, they ended up in the possession of Ahkris. He also has some Jedi diaries and datacards. Over the past months, he has filled the Sorkatar Holocron with his knowledge. One of his most prized possessions is a centuries-old Sith amulet, which produces an effect similar to the Sith spell False Light Side Aura. However, while wearing the amulet, he cannot use the Force past a certain threshold without being discovered as a Darksider. He has used this amulet on a few occasions throughout the centuries. Velok is the creator of the simple, profound Force power called Knowledge by Instinct. This allows him to discern names, locations, passwords and other details with superior clarity. In combat, he has been known to use yet another esoteric technique, Force bellowing. This projects a semicircular shockwave which, depending on its power, can rip up the ground. Having studied with the Baran Do Sages, he knows the hassat-durr family of Force applications, including ayna-seff. He studied with the Witches of Dathomir, and while he picked up some useful tips on weather control, he found most of their curriculum boring. He also kidnapped a Nightsister to learn how to make a blood trail. With the Zeison Sha, he learned the ability some call Force Weapon. He uses it very rarely and does not know it well. From his Master, Aorali Ventirri, he learned to create a so-called spear of midnight black, a Force construct similar to the others she taught him. He has used the technique to create an exit after swimming inside the heart of a starship-sized creature; to warn away Ethan Voss, Arice Quinn, Rissk and their associates, while trying to claim the body of Brembla Kol-Rekali; to kill Charon during the Battle of Mon Calamari onboard the Nightfury; and to threaten Ashin Varanin. Velok is typically weak in terms of telepathy and illusions. He can defend his mind to a decent extent, and there are a few exceptions (Drain Knowledge, Force Phantom, Force Concealment, Spirit Absorption), but this field remains his most pronounced weakness. Were it exploited, he could be defeated by any strong mentalist like Sivter, Ahkris or Siriss Cortann. He speculates that many of the Shadow Keepers would be able to defeat him under certain conditions. Muddy the Waters Velok has long been a student of Sith techniques of concealment, but his focus lies elsewhere, and - much like Sivter - he finds it more difficult to mask his presence as he grows in strength. He can, however, decrease the disturbance in the Force caused by his presence, alone or with a group, and while this is not a full masking a la Palpatine, it serves a similar purpose in almost all circumstances. Spirit Absorption In his obsessive pursuit of knowledge, Velok allowed Darius Malakai into his mind to implant an ancient technique of spirit absorption. Unsure of the effects, he would not try it until carefully considering the list of known spirits to absorb. His list was extensive: at one point or another, Velok has had dealings with several Dark Side spirits, and killed some Masters. He is wary of absorbing too strong a spirit, as he should be. He considered absorbing the spirit of his best friend, Ori'vod, but - unable to decide whether it would be a fitting tribute or a desecration - he opted against it. To date, he is known to have fully absorbed only one person: Darth Kren. Velok possesses much of Kren’s knowledge, but the bulk of it was not new to him; he learned some alchemy, and improved his control over the weather. Also, he gained the ability to anchor his spirit to a location or object should he be killed and a sufficient power source be available. Since his experiences with Kren’s spirit, Velok intends to use the absorption technique only in great need, or to recover information from dead underlings of other Dark Side sects. Due to Kren's influence, Velok's Force Lightning is typically red. This does not affect its potency. Velok’s Lightsabre Velok’s dueling style is reminiscent of Darth Vader: one-handed, powerful, slow but prescient. He focuses on Djem So. His lightsabre itself is a masterpiece, one of the most complicated weapons ever built. Its blade can be adjusted to any length between 5cm and 2m; its width and depth can also be adjusted; and a preset enables instant change like a standard dual-phase lightsabre. Due to a bifurcating cyclical-ignition phase, it can function underwater; due to a difficult-to-engineer lack of dimetris circuits anywhere in the activation loop, it is immune to the deactivating effects of cortosis ore, though it can still be repelled by cortosis alloy. The multiple crystals are a mixture of naturally occurring gems and Sith bloodshine crystals; as such, the blade strikes a balance between speed and power.